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US school cancels prom over fear of lesbians
A lesbian student at a school in Mississippi wanted to take her girlfriend to the prom. So the school cancelled it If all those John Hughes movies are to be believed, the senior prom is a highlight of American teenage life. But in a real-life scenario that would have made for a great John Hughes plot, a cowardly school in Mississippi has cancelled its senior prom this year after a female student wanted to bring her girlfriend as her date. Constance McMillen, an 18-year-old student at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi, asked to be able to take her date. The school’s board objected – and to McMillen wanting to wear a tuxedo – so the American Civil Liberties Union got involved , pointing out the discrimination issue. How did the school react? By blaming “distractions to the educational process caused by recent events” and cancelling the prom for everyone – which left the rest of the students unhappy. The local Clarion-Ledger newspaper, under the sparkling headline ” Mississippi lesbian alleges retaliation after prom date debate “, reported McMillen’s reaction to the news that the prom had been scrapped: “That’s really messed up because the message they are sending is that if they have to let gay people go to prom that they are not going to have one. A bunch of kids at school are really going to hate me for this, so in a way it’s really retaliation.” The ACLU this afternoon filed a lawsuit against the school district: She was told, according to the lawsuit, that the pair would have to arrive separately and could be thrown out “if any of the other students complained about their presence there together.” McMillen was also told she could not wear a tuxedo, according to the suit, because boys are to attend in tuxedos and girls in dresses. Announcing the cancellation, the school board said: “It is our hope that private citizens will organize an event for the juniors and seniors.” A private party would circumvent the legal issues. The gay-prom-goer issue has arisen in many states in recent years. In conservative Utah, gay students in Salt Lake City can attend a separate prom, sponsored by the Utah Pride Centre. In more liberal California – despite Prop 8 – students at Fairfax Senior High School in Los Angeles elected gay student Sergio Garcia as prom queen in 2009. A Facebook group, Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom! , has been started and already has 11,000 fans. Gay rights US constitution and civil liberties United States Richard Adams guardian.co.uk
LivingSocial Raises $25 Million to Take On Groupon
LivingSocial, once one of the top Facebook app developers but is now focused on online daily deals, has raised a warchest of $25 million from investors in a Series B funding round. LivingSocial , based out of Washington, D.C., is the creator of the Visual Bookshelf, Pick Your 5, and Polls Facebook applications, all of which were popular during the Facebook app development gold rush that occurred in 2007 and 2008. Since then though, the company has shifted its focus on the lucrative market of daily deals — one dominated by Groupon , which garnered over 2 million U.S. visitors last month alone. Essentially the website promotes one big deal per city per day, mostly via a daily email newsletter. To compete with its bigger competitor, LivingSocial has assembled a $25 million warchest from U.S. Venture Partners, Grotech Ventures, and Revolution, LLC (owned by former AOL CEO Steve Case). The company says it will use the funds to expand its LivingSocial Deals platform into more cities, starting today — Denver, Raleigh Durham, San Diego, and Chicago are all now get daily deals. The latter is interesting because Chicago is the home turf of Groupon. The daily deals market may not be all that sexy, but it has proven to be profitable and popular. It makes sense that more companies want a piece of the pie that Groupon currently dominates. With $25 million, LivingSocial is now on par with the $30 million Groupon recently raised. A daily deals war looks to be brewing.
What Type of People Want iPads? [STATS]
If you’re a Facebooker who’s lusting after the Apple iPad (so much so that you’ve joined a Fan Page), then chances are you’re aged between 18 and 25 and have an interest in popular culture — or so says RapLeaf , a company that analyzes social media stats to draw meaningful conclusions from the likes of Facebook Fan Pages. RapLeaf looked at the top three Facebook Fan Pages (all of which are imaginatively named “The iPad”) to see if iPad fans could be easily grouped into a particular demographic. The numbers are certainly there for such a study — the three pages together boast almost 98,000 members. While gender pretty much averaged out across all the pages, the age range came in at under Facebook’s average with 85% of overall fans 35 or under, and nearly 50% 25 and under. iPad-owner-wannabes are also fairly social, with a third boasting more than 300 friends. Other Fan Pages they have joined include, in many cases (and perhaps unsurprisingly), iTunes, as well as other Pages related to caffeine, sleep, pop culture and humor. What will be truly interesting to see as we edge closer to the April 3 iPad launch is how many of those 98,000 put their money where their Facebook fandom is and go out and buy the device. Tags: apple , facebook , ipad , statistics
Facebook Threatens to Sue Daily Mail Over Sex Predator Claims
According to the Guardian and Global Dashboard , Facebook has threatened to sue Daily Mail over an article that wrongfully claimed Facebook makes it easy for older sex predators to approach and seduce minors. Daily Mail’s article, which can (in edited form) be found here , was written by a former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, and had originally been titled “I posed as a girl of 14 on Facebook. What followed will sicken you.” It contained the account of the author posing as a minor on Facebook , which, according to him, attracted sexual predators right away. The problem? He wasn’t really using Facebook to conduct the experiment, he used a “different social networking site,” as explained in today’s update to the article, added at the bottom by Daily Mail staff. The full text of the update is as follows: “In an earlier version of this article, we wrongly stated that the criminologist had conducted an experiment into social networking sites by posing as a 14-year-old girl on Facebook with the result that he quickly attracted sexually motivated messages. In fact he had used a different social networking site for this exercise. We are happy to set the record straight.” Needless to say, this caused a strong response from Facebook, which is still referenced throughout the article. According to the Guardian, a UK spokeswoman for Facebook said that the company was considering legal action due to the “brand damage that has been done.” “If you were a Middle England reader and your child was on Facebook, this sort of thing would have a very serious effect on what you thought of us,” she said. Facebook has a point here; besides the obvious erroneous reporting, the article details how someone posing as a 14-year-old girl would get messages from older men (more accurately, users whose Facebook profile indicates they’re over 18 years old), which cannot be done on Facebook. Therefore, Facebook can argue it has measures in place to prevent exactly the kind of behavior the article describes, unlike the unnamed social network the experiment was conducted on. We’ve contacted Facebook’s UK PR representative on this matter but have yet to hear back. Tags: Daily Mail , facebook
15 Famous Tech Titans Hit Forbes’ Billionaire List
Forbes has released its annual list of the world’s billionaires and when it comes to technology, the list includes many of the same faces we see year after year . After regaining the throne last year, Bill Gates has once again been displaced as the world’s richest man — this time by Carlos Slim (who held that post back in 2007), but he remains the richest man in tech by a wide margin with an estimated net worth of $53 billion. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg , who fell off the list last year, has rejoined, tied with 20 others at #212 with an estimated net worth of $4 billion . Check out how some other tech heavyweights weighed in: Larry Ellison: $28 Billion The Oracle founder and CEO is the sixth richest person in the world this year, sitting pretty with $28 billion as his estimated net worth. Sergey Brin & Larry Page: $17.5 Billion Each The two Google co-founders both place 24th on the list with $17.5 billion in estimated net worth. Steve Ballmer: $14.5 Billion Thanks to a rise in Microsoft’s stock price, Ballmer saw his net worth rise and he sits at #33 on the overall list. Paul Allen and Michael Dell: $13.5 Billion Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen might appear to spend money like its water, but he’s still ranked at #37 on the list, tied with Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell. Jeff Bezos: $12.3 Billion The Amazon founder and CEO is ranked #43 with $12.3 billion in estimated net worth. That’s a lot of eBooks! Eric Schmidt: $6.3 Billion Google CEO Eric Schmidt is ranked #117 this year, tied with News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch. Steve Jobs: $5.5 Billion Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs has watch his company’s stock price soar over the last twelve months. He’s ranked #136 with an estimated $5.5 Billion. Pierre Omidyar: $5.2 Billion The eBay founder is ranked #148 on the list. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg: $3 Billion each While most filmmakers don’t necessarily fall into the category of technology players, I think we can make an exception for the guy who gave us Jaws , E.T. and Minority Report and the guy that gave us Star Wars and Howard The Duck. Both directors are tied at #316. Jerry Yang: $1.3 Billion Hey, being ousted wasn’t the worst thing to happen to Yang — Yahoo’s stock was up 26% in the last year, buoying the co-founders net worth along with it. Reviews: Facebook , Google Tags: bill gates , billionaires , mark zuckerberg , steve jobs
Google Fiber Sparks Online Competition Between Cities Nationwide
It seems like every city in America wants Google Fiber. And who can blame them? Ever since Google announced its plan last month to bring ultra-high speed Internet connections (as in, up to 100x faster than what most of the country has today) to between 50,000 and 500,000 people, cities across the U.S. have been clamoring to curry the favor of the search giant. First there was Topeka, KS, which renamed itself by proclamation to Google, KS . Then Duluth, MN upped the ante by promising (comedically, we hope) to name all the town’s first-born children after Google . Then Greenville, SC entered the fray with their all-out “ We Are Feeling Lucky ” social media campaign that included a landing page, YouTube channel, Facebook events, and Twitter hashtag. But will any of these efforts be enough? The Competition Topeka, Duluth, and Greenville are not alone in wanting Google to trick out their municipalities with super fast Internet speeds. A growing number of American cities are making their pitch to Google in advance of the March 26th deadline, and some of them are pretty creative. Peoria, IL, for example, is playing off its reputation as the prototypical middle American town and the famous “ Will it play in Peoria? ” catchphrase. They’ve launched Google Plays in Peoria in an attempt to convince the company that their town is the perfect test-bed for Google’s new technology. Perhaps taking a cue from Topeka, on the other hand, Sarasota, FL has also renamed itself… to Google Island . Their site includes the standard YouTube videos, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account, and cleverly, a “Declaration of Independence from Narrowband Networks.” Other cities have also pulled out all the stops in their campaign to get Big G to invest in their infrastructure. Baltimore, MD thinks a petition is the way to go, and presents their case using a Google Maps mashup, YouTube videos, and a list of local startups that could use a few more bits on their BmoreFiber.com pitch page. Austin, TX , Charlottesville, VA , Greensboro, NC , Portland, OR , Grand Rapids, MI , and Indianapolis, IN are also in on the action with either official or citizen-led campaigns to catch Google’s attention. Who Wins? Google, For One Google has yet to reveal how it will pick where its magical fiber will be implemented — glitz and numbers may ultimately have nothing to do with it. However, no matter which city wins the ultimate prize of having Google come to town and pimp out their Internet connections the way Xhibit pimps out cars, Google itself is a big winner in the process. So are social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter . Google wins because they get to further their agenda. The stampede among cities to compete for Google’s trial has already demonstrated the desire that people and municipalities have for faster Internet infrastructure and “open access” networks. “It’s obvious the ISPs and incumbent utility providers don’t feel the incentive they need, the pressure they need, to keep themselves up to date,” wrote a commenter on a blog post from Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn’s office declaring their intention to compete for Google Fiber . Making the public more aware of the issues that Google cares about (better/faster infrastructure, universal access, net neutrality) is a win for Google, whose plans for the cloud-based computing hinge on faster and more ubiquitous broadband connections. Facebook, meanwhile, has proven to be one of the most popular meeting grounds for Google Fiber advocates. Most of the campaigns already mentioned in this post have a presence on Facebook, and some communities and citizen-led groups have put the entirety of their energy on promoting the case to fellow citizens through the social network. There are growing Facebook groups for Google Fiber in Ventura, CA , Columbia, MO , Davis, CA , Huntsville, AL , Buffalo, NY , Baton Rouge, LA , Rochester, NY , Fresno, CA , Cincinnati, OH , San Luis Obispo, CA — to name just a few. In fact, a Groups search for “Google Fiber” on Facebook this morning yielded almost 250 results. Other cities and towns are turning to Twitter to make their case. Madison, WI, for example, has a Twitter account and is using the hashtag #madfiber to spread the word about Google Fiber to other Madison residents. And Memphis, TN mayor A.C. Wharton, Jr. is using his Twitter account to tweet about his city’s pitch and encourage citizens to get involved using the #memphisgoogle hashtag. Social gathering places like Facebook and Twitter are used all the time for campaigns bigger than the Google Fiber competition, so it may seem naive to call those sites winners here. But like Google, social networks would benefit immensely from faster, more universal broadband access, so getting their brands entangled in the movement early might be a major boon down the road. Is your city gunning for Google Fiber? Which of these campaigns do you think will best catch Google’s attention? Let us know in the comments. Tags: facebook , Fiber Optic , Google , google fiber , Google Kansas , ISP , isps , social media , tech , twitter , youtube
SXSW 2010: The Complete Social Media Guide
This year’s South By Southwest (SXSW) festival is rapidly approaching. Beginning with the Interactive Media events on March 12th, Austin, Texas will be the place to connect with the brightest in tech and media and get the scoop on some exciting new ventures. Whether you plan to physically attend or not, social media will be critical to how people connect and share ideas at this world-class event. If you want to keep in touch with all the goings-on, look no further than these tools that you can use on the web, your mobile device, and your favorite social networks. For Those Headed to Austin While in-person networking is the goal of many, social media will be key in bringing interested parties together across this vast festival that this year is spread across four separate campuses. If you’ll be in attendance, check out these resources for staying connected. The Official SXSW First-Timers Guide If you’re brand new to SXSW and feeling a bit overwhelmed at the scope, the first-timers guide has a wealth of resources to assist the uninitiated. These include links to online registration (if you still need to sign up), hotel booking, scheduling tools, maps, and this informative video. my.SXSW and QR Coded Badges The official social network of the festival is my.SXSW, and you are automatically invited to join upon registering. This closed network, just for attendees, allows users to build personalized conference schedules, join exclusive groups, and connect with others at the festival. The addition of QR codes on registered badges gives attendees with smartphones an added way to solidify in-person connections. Simply scan a new friend’s personalized QR code and you’ll automatically be following him or her within the my.SXSW network. For additional ways to utilize the my.SXSW network, check out the info on their tools page. SXSW2010 Event Calendar on sched.org Sched.org is an interactive calendar with social media integration that makes it ideal for festivals like SXSW. An “unofficial” but highly useful calendar has been created for SXSW that will give you an overview of each day’s events, talks and panels. Sign in with Facebook Connect or Twitter and start compiling a list of the events you’ll be attending. By clicking on a particular event, you can also see who else is attending, and view real-time updates about the event from other attendees on social networks. With a bit of effort, this tool could become your go-to social dashboard and connection builder for the entire festival. SitBy.Us Social media aficionados will be converging on Austin from all over the U.S. and the world. It’s likely that some of your Twitter friends will be in attendance while you’re there. Don’t let an opportunity for an in-person meeting slip by. SitBy.Us is a useful tool that lets you see which panels your Twitter friends will be attending, and even where in each room they will sit. By logging in with your Twitter account (via OAuth), SitBy.Us provides a mobile-optimized web interface that allows you to plan and coordinate panel attendance with people you’re looking to connect with in person (and perhaps even avoid those you don’t!). SXSW Badges for Foursquare Foursquare has created 16 new SXSW-specific badges for those location-based networkers who are Austin bound. What’s more, if you do unlock a badge, you can track down a Foursquare team member at the festival and claim a temporary tattoo with the mark of honor. Cliqset’s SXSW Map Cliqset.com has created a real-time map that aggregates all of the geo-tagged activity in the festival area of Austin. Pulling in data from the major location-based social networks ( Brightkite , Flickr , Foursquare, Gowalla , Qik , and Twitter), the map will give you a bird’s eye view of who is at SXSW, where they are, and what they’re doing. Click a pinpoint on the map to expand the user’s status update. It should be interesting to see the map fill up with notes come festival time this Friday. Disclosure: Cliqset is a Mashable sponsor Mashable’s Austin Real-Time Looking to connect with like-minded festival goers or other attendees from your hometown? Check out Mashable’s own Austin Real-Time Network . Sign in with your Twitter, Facebook, or Cliqset ID and browse or search for other festival patrons by common interest or location. By adding yourself to the network, you can also share what you’re doing and where you are via your favorite social networks. For Those Who Will Watch from Afar If you’re not able to make it to Austin this year, don’t fret. The magic of social media and the web can bring the festival within reach. While you may not be able to hob-knob with your favorite tech and music geeks in the warm Austin sun, you can still get your SXSW fix with these resources. The Official SXSW Twitter and Facebook Accounts Being the socially-savvy team that they are, the crew behind the festival does a good job keeping their fans and followers in the know. If you want to keep an eye on developments in Austin, be sure to add these official channels to your social feeds. SXSW Videos Though not officially connected to the festival, SXSW Videos is a user-generated destination for footage from the event. Powered by Viddler , the site lets you browse videos that come out of SXSW (in various categories, including Interviews, Shows, Bands, etc.) as well as upload your own if you’re in attendance. The content can be a bit of a grab-bag, but if you’re looking for some first-hand video accounts of what’s happening on the ground, check in there every once in a while. SXSW Blogs Searching for other ways to live vicariously through the SXSW attendees? Dedicated blogs are a good way to stay in the loop. The Unofficial SXSW Insider’s Guide is a blog/community built with Ning where festival attendees (and interested parties who couldn’t make it) can blog, upload photos, and discuss events. You can browse the site blog-style to see what people are up to, or connect with individual members to get a more social scoop. SXSW Baby is another unofficial blog that will be covering the events throughout the festival. Currently, they have quite a few tips for those who are enroute to Austin. But if you’ll be checking in from home, stay tuned for further updates as the festival kicks off this Friday. Mashable’s SXSWi Channel Of course you can always stay up to date on the latest news coming from Austin with Mashable’s own channel , dedicated to the Interactive Media portion of the festival. Members of our team will be on the ground in Austin to get you the social media and tech scoops that are sure to break in the days ahead. More SXSW resources from Mashable: – 3 Things to Do Before MashBash SXSWi This Sunday Night – Coming to SXSW? Add Yourself to Austin Realtime! Tags: BLOGS , cliqset , facebook , festival , foursquare , gowalla , location-based , networking , ning , social media , social networks , sxsw , sxsw2010 , twitter
FarmVille Adds Facebook Credits Payment Option
The Facebook platform game FarmVille now supports the Facebook Credits virtual currency . The popular online game uses two units of in-game currency: Farm Cash and Farm Coins. Previously, you could buy them with a credit card or PayPal. Now the game offers Facebook Credits as an option. Facebook Credits are the number-one option, actually. They’re the default payment choice, featured at the top of the list pictured here. We recently learned that Facebook takes 30% of developers’ Facebook Credits revenue — the same percentage that Apple takes from its iPhone and iPod touch App Store sales. Analysts have speculated that Facebook might surpass $1 billion in revenue this year, and the social network’s virtual currency could be a vital part of growth beyond that. This new option in FarmVille is arguably bigger for Facebook Credits than it is for the game. FarmVille has more than 80 million users , making it bigger than Twitter . Exposure to an audience that large is an important milestone for the Facebook Credits project, which has been a slowly expanding experiment up until now. Tags: facebook , facebook credits , facebook platform , farmville , microtransactions , online games , virtual currency , Zynga
Get Satisfaction Brings Customer Support to Facebook Pages
Today Get Satisfaction is bringing its popular social CRM tool inside Facebook Pages with Social Engagement Hub. The new app, created by Involver using the Get Satisfaction API, gives brands and businesses the ability to integrate the entire support experience into Facebook. That means the Ask A Question, Share an Idea, Report a Problem and Give Praise functionalities are all present and commingling with the service’s intelligent question database so both customers and brand representatives have the ability to collectively tackle queries. The Social Engagement Hub lives in its own tab inside the Facebook Page and can be fully customized, branded, and tweaked for a specific purpose or campaign. The most impressive part, though, is that all activity inside the hub is centralized on the Get Satisfaction platform, so no conversation is lost inside the Facebook experience and each one can be distributed across multiple environments (which allows for repurposing). The application is currently being tested by a handful of brands (check out POM’s support tab), but the company is rolling it out to all interested businesses. The Social Engagement Hub is targeted to bigger brands, but coming this spring Get Satisfaction will roll a slightly scaled down version — minus customization — for small and medium business that will cost $99 per month in addition to the current paid plan. Reviews: Facebook , Get Satisfaction Tags: facebook , facebook page , get satisfaction , MARKETING , software
8 Must-Have Twitter and Facebook Add-Ons
8 Must-Have Twitter and Facebook Add-Ons
You can solve several of your top gripes with Twitter and Facebook by using free, downloadable tools.
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